And Hope to Die
by GRINtelligencer
Summary: Auror Liam Lunettes is sure he isn't going to live through the night. Separated from the main group and ambushed by the very criminal they were hunting he has two choices, fall down and die, or fight. Because there's no chance of rescue.  AU. HP fusion.
1. Cross Your Heart

**And Hope to Die**

I think I re-planned how this story was going at go at least a million times but in the end this became even more than the simple one-shot I was thinking of. Ironically I started this chapter the night before Retrace 53 came out and finished the day after I read it, which definitely affected my direction. Read and please review, I'd love to know what you think.

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_Cross your heart_

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Liam could taste blood in the back of his throat, as raw and coppery as a fistful of muggle pennies shoved into his throat. He had his back to a tree now, clutching his wand so tightly that at his knuckles the pale outlines of bones showed white through his skin. He was breathing hard, trying to get his breath back; trying to ignore the pain of one the spells the Death Eater had landed on him, the one that had sliced a wound, so preternaturally neat that only magic could do it, from his shoulder to his hip. His other hand -two fingers dangling limply and uselessly because the Death Eater had snapped them in that brief nasty moment when she had managed to pin him- was held across the wound, trying to hold it closed, trying to use the pressure of his arm the stem the bleeding.

He was listening hard, trying to pick out the sounds of the Death Eater's movement from the other rustles and creaks of the night forest. It wasn't likely that he would get lucky enough to hear her before she slipped into a different shadow for cover but at this point there wasn't much Liam could do but hope. And not for a rescue because he was alone, and no one was going to look for a low level Auror who had been stupid enough to get separated from his group and ambushed, not while a Death Eater of the level of Charlotte Baskerville somewhere loose in the woods. Maybe after the main contingent had neutralized the threat someone might realize that he was no longer scouting ahead and raise the alarm. However by then help would be no help at all because Baskerville would have already dealt with him.

Slowly, considering her behavior before. When she had hit him with a clever curse that had temporarily immobilized him she had taken her time about gloating, taken her time about casting the Cruciatus curse, taken her time about beginning to break his fingers. She had taken so much time with her torture, in fact, that the first curse had worn off and Liam had been able to toss a hex at Baskerville that had thrown her ten yards away while he scrambled to cover.

Which he hadn't reached, _damn_ that wide clearing, before she sent a curse at him that had slashed him across the chest like a blade. Luckily she had hit the ground hard enough to be momentarily stunned and he managed to crawl away, into the shadows of the trees and hide. But when she realized he had taken cover she did the same and they had been firing random spells at each other for some time now.

It was a standoff, and Liam knew it. There was no way he could even Disapparate away, he had never been very good at it -he'd splinched himself more times then he liked to think about- and now that he was distracted and in pain he had no doubt he would never manage to do it.

There had been no curses coming from the opposite side of the clearing for some time, perhaps Baskerville had realized the same thing he had, that the chances of either of them hitting each other in the darkness were slim. He wasn't sure what she was going to do now, but he was going to try to catch his breath while he had the chance.

Something, a feeling that didn't bother to check in with his brain, made him throw himself to the side, just missing the curse that cut a deep rent across the tree he had been leaning against. Somewhere in the darkness Baskerville made a sound of annoyance and Liam cast a curse in the vague direction it had come from.

Not bothering to wait and see if it had hit he scrabbled back to his feet with some effort and stumbled further into the forest, feeling blindly for trees because the moonlight was blocked by the leaves of those same trees. He didn't dare cast lumos, that would give his position away like a beacon but that meant he was next thing to blind in the night time woods.

"Lumos!" the call came from behind him and light was cast over his shoulder as a wand lit up. Baskerville, apparently, wasn't worried about being spotted. "There you are, little Auror. Impedimenta!"

The spell hit him squarely between the shoulders, freezing him in place mid-step and he fell. Unable to move, even to catch himself, he impacted hard on his face, a dull crunch and a searing pain telling him he had broken his nose. A second crunch, this one external instead of internal, said that at least one of the panes of glass in his glasses had broken.

He lay, face down in the dirt, trying desperately to breathe past the new blood in his mouth, until a boot inserted itself under his side and rolled him over. Coughing blood Liam looked up into the twisted grin of Charlotte Baskerville. "You're quite the quick little mouse, Auror." she said. "But I doubt you'll manage to scamper away again." She was a beautiful woman, with generous curves and long flowing hair, but her smile and the cruelness in her eyes was ugly. With deliberate force she rested a boot on his chest -he winced, her heels were _very_ sharp- and leaned down so her smile was inches from his face. "Well, Mouse Auror, I'll clip your ears, cut off your tail, rip away your fur and leave what's left for your friends to find. And I'll enjoy it so…" chuckling she reached down to pluck the glasses from his nose, which sent the world into various shades of blurred color. The boot removed itself from his chest and Liam heard glass shatter. Even though he hadn't seen what she had done he knew she had crushed the lenses, which left him almost blind in the darkness.

He knew then he was out of depth there and then.

This was beyond anything he had ever trained for, anything he could have every prepared himself for. Baskerville was known for taking great pleasure in hurting her victims, often without magic at all, making her unusual in the magical world, and the bodies they had managed to find of her last victims had made even Xerxes, who had been an Auror for enough years to have seen almost everything that could be done to a body, turn dead white. Liam himself had had to go away and be sick at the sight of those poor twisted bodies, so broken and abused, and as they hunted the Death Eater those bodies had stared at him from sightless eyes, _accusing, demanding to know why the one who had done this still walked free,_ every night in his dreams.

But at least Xerxes had been there, rubbing his back in a comforting manner while he was being sick, handing him a canteen of water after he was done, and later shaking him out of his nightmares, away from the accusing dead. Then again, Liam would have, and had before, done the same for his friend.

"Pay attention, little Auror."

Pain cut through his drifting thoughts and yanked him back to the present. A line of fire cut itself across his cheek, a newer, sharper than the duller, deeper, ache of his broken nose and Liam tried not to wince. He would be the same as one of those pitiful bodies they had found soon.

"I wouldn't want you to miss a moment of this!"

She was lifting her wand, likely to recast the spell that had sliced him open before, when Liam came to a sudden, wonderful, realization. His wand was still in his hand.

He had been frozen by the spell so thoroughly his fingers had been unable to drop it and somehow it hadn't been snapped when he'd fallen. Just as Baskerville said the curse Liam cast a shield charm. The spell hit his spell and rebounded right back into her. She screamed and he saw the blurry crimson sprout from her shoulder.

The spell that had been holding Liam frozen chose that time to wear off and Liam whipped his wand up and was shouting, "Stupefy!" before he was even sure he could move the rest of his body. Too distracted by her rebounded spell Baskerville never even saw the stun spell coming. She dropped like a log and he scrambled upright, swaying.

He raised a hand to the cut on his cheek, feeling the blood pouring enthusiastically from the deep cut, cautiously touched his broken nose, winced and didn't try to touch it again. Besides, there were other wounds he was more worried about. The gash from shoulder to hip was not so deep it would have hit something very quickly fatal but it was bleeding out in a way he didn't much like.

On the ground Baskerville groaned and twitched. The spell should have knocked her out for a good hour but she was shaking it off it the amazing quickness that had made her so hard to catch before this, in fact, her eyes were already opening.

Her hand rose, wand pointed toward him and he didn't do what his training told him to do. It was swamped by the little voice, screaming panic into his ear.

Liam forgot all about trying to subdue Baskerville,_ who was a monster, who wouldn't stay down,_ turned and ran.

He ran with the senseless panic that overrides training, overrides common sense, stumbling from tree to tree, groping blindly for the next trunk because without his glasses, in the dark, he was practically blind. Without ever seeing it he ran right into a dangling branch, which smacked into the wound on his chest and made him yelp with pain, but he just felt for the branch and ducked past it.

Finally his foot caught under a root that he hadn't seen and he toppled forward, this time, since he wasn't frozen, he caught himself before he hit the ground, but his wand was lost somewhere between falling and the ground.

For a moment he lay there, trying to blink the little colored lights from in front of his eyes. Not that it mattered, he couldn't see much even _with_ his vision clear. Then, from some remote corner of his mind, a dusty memory sprung up.

_"Never just sit there when you're on a hunt," Barma had said, tapping his fan, he was never without the thing, on his podium, "Cover is always your friend. Cover means survival, ladies and gentleman. And survival means fighting Death Eaters another day. So never just sit there!"_

The memory jerked him into action, made him push himself up, reach for a nearest tree, and scrabble behind it. He had no idea what direction Baskerville might come from, he probably had been running in circles, but having his back to something solid was progress.

Hopefully Baskerville was still recovering from the stunning spell, or perhaps she was wandering around a completely different part of the forest, right into the arms of the other, better prepared Aurors. He didn't dare hope for a rescue, but he did hope that Baskerville didn't manage to escape-

There were footsteps coming through the forest toward where he hid.

Baskerville was coming.

Huddled behind a tree, breathless and bleeding and next thing to blind Liam Lunettes faced the fact he was about to die.

This was it, this was the last fight he would ever end up in, he would never cast another spell, fill out another report, grumble to Gil about how bad the Auror filing system was, go out drinking with Xerxes and sleep embarrassingly late the next day, no more, never again. This was the end.

He was about to die.

There would be no more missions, no more terror, no more pain, but there would also be no more yelling at Xerxes, no more researching with Gilbert, no more quiet cups of tea with Sharon, no more… anything.

A twig snapped nearby and he flinched, his arms wrapped around his drawn up legs, his face pressed into his knees, making himself as small as he could beyond disappearing completely. If he could have cried without giving himself away he might have just then. She was here, she was looking for him, and it wouldn't take her long to find him.

And when she did…

No.

The single word dropped like a stone into his mind, hitting the surface and sending out ripples of thoughts. He did not want to die, not like this, not huddled in fear, waiting for his fate to fall on him. And even if there was no chance he was going to survive this… then he wanted to at least go out fighting.

Pulling himself back to his feet he kept himself there with a hand on the tree trunk. "Lumos!" he called, and dove toward where his wand lit up, snatching it and pointing it toward the figure advancing on him.

The spell that would do a great deal more than stun Baskerville was already half formed in his mind when his blurred vision finally adjusted enough to see that the person who had crept up on him had white hair, so pale is shone in the light from his wand.

Charlotte Baskerville did not have white hair.

"Liam?" The voice was so painfully familiar, so completely unexpected that he swayed as if struck by the shear impossibility of it.

"Xerxes?" his voice was a broken rasp, quiet and chocked. He had not dared hope for rescue and he was not sure if he exactly believed it.

A hand rose to shield the other person's eyes as they cautiously walked forward. "Is that you, Liam?"

"That's exactly what I want to know." a catch in his throat and he had to pause to cough blood into his free hand, continuing when he caught his breath, "You could be anyone, no matter who you happen to look like."

The figure paused, just three yards away. "I suppose that's a reasonable suspicion. But you see, I can prove I'm Xerxes Break because I know you were the one who cast that charm on my desk that makes every sweet I put in the drawers vanish. Moreover I know why you did it. It's because you like sweets even more than I do, you just hide it better."

Relief made Liam lower his wand, squinting toward Break to try to define him better from the darkness. "Then… it is you." he said. "How did you know I was here?"

"I didn't." Break said, simply. "Gil came back from scouting ahead and told us you had vanished. We started looking for you. I got lucky and-"

Again Liam failed to stifle the urge to cough, and this time he almost doubled over, he would have fallen for the fourth time that night if Break hadn't quickly stepped forward to grab his shoulders. "What's the matter?" he demanded, "You're hurt?"

Still coughing Liam tried to shake his head, but Break didn't appear to believe him. He held up his wand lit the end.

Liam winced as the sudden light struck his eyes. Break held him away enough to look him up and down, giving a pained hiss between his teeth as he took in his blood stained robes. "How much blood have you lost?"

" …what?" he managed to choke the word out between coughs.

"Here, sit down," Break guided him to the same tree he had huddled behind not too long ago and sat him down. Then he undid the clasp of his cloak and took it off, spreading it over him he asked gently, "How long ago did this happen?"

"I don't know," Liam said, wiping the blood from his mouth the back of his hand. "It's… hard to remember how long."

"Your nose is broken." said Break flatly.

"I fell."

Warm fingered traced edge of the gash on this cheek and Liam winced. "And this is deep. I can see bone. How did this happen? -No, that was a stupid question, it's obvious." An expression flickered across his friend's face, he was close enough Liam could just barely see it. His tone might have been carefully controlled but Break was angry. "Do you know where Baskerville is?" he demanded.

"No. I… I ran, Xerxes. I couldn't capture her, I was too-"

"I understand." Break said.

"I let her get away, she's still somewhere… that way," he waved vaguely in the direction he had run from, "I think. I got a little turned around in the dark and I couldn't see very well once my glasses were broken."

Very carefully Break caught his hand and inspected it. Liam saw rage cross his friend's face for the first time he could remember._"Two of your fingers are broken."_ The force with which Break said it, the pure anger behind the words made Liam wince.

"I got caught by Baskerville." he offered up, as an explanation. He didn't need to say anymore about it, they had both seen the bodies, they knew what Baskerville did to her victims. "And I got away."

"She's over there, you said?" Break glanced over his shoulder in the direction he'd indicated before. His body was tense, as if all he wanted was to run off into the darkness after Baskerville. But he glanced back at Liam, then off into the distance again, clearly unsure if he should leave him to catch the Death Eater or to stay and help him.

"She'll get away if you don't go," Liam finally said. "That's more important."

That seemed to make up Break's mind for him. He sighed. "At least let me mend your nose before I go, I can do that much. Now this is going to hurt some," he pointed his wand at Liam's nose and said, "Episkey."

He missed the usual feeling of heat and cold that came with that spell because a bright light flashed in front of his eyes and the next thing he knew Break was frowning over him from very close by, tapping him on his uncut cheek. "Wake up, Liam. You need to wake up. If you don't you might not- wake up!"

"I'm… awake." he managed, surprised at how weak his voice sounded. He must have lost more blood than he thought because he didn't remember feeling so cold before. And he didn't remember being so tired either. "What was…"

"I've never been very good at healing magic but I'm not quite _that_ bad." Break's frown deepened as he watched Liam struggle to keep his eyes open. "You need a real healer and you need them now."

"No."

"Yes."

"Baskerville will get away."

"Damn Baskerville!" Break shouted, throwing his hands in the air in an uncharacteristic show of frustration. "If I leave you here to go after her I won't get back in time to get you to help! I don't think you're in any condition to be Apparating, and I'm not leaving you!"

"You're… an Auror, Xerc." Liam murmured. "…grow up… and do your… job."

With a sigh Break got to his feet. "If I leave, you have to swear that you won't… that you'll still be… that you won't die before I get back."

"Promise." Liam said.

"I mean it."

Liam traced an 'x' over his heart with a shaking finger. "Cross my heart, Xerc." he said.

"You had better." Break leaned down to pull his cloak higher over his friend then rose, already looking into the darkness. "I'll catch her for you." said the Auror who many claimed was the best since old Mad-Eye Moody had retired, the Auror who hadn't even let getting his eye ripped out by a Death Eater stop him.

Liam had no doubt that he would do what he said he could. "Thank you." he murmured and watched the blurry form of Break disappear into the trees. Shakily he retraced the 'x'. _"Cross my heart and hope to die."_ he whispered.

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_End of Part 1_


	2. And Hope To Die

**And Hope to Die**

I'll admit to combining Charlotte Baskerville with Lily's slightly more psychotic manner and to being a little more gory in this chapter than I usually prefer to be. Liam is not having a good night.

Anyway, do enjoy and please review.

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_And hope to die_

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The hours stretched long as Liam waited. He was still trying to hold the wound across his chest closed, more to keep it from bleeding anymore on Break's cloak than in any real effort to stem the bleeding.

There had been some flashes of light in the distance, some loud bangs, but those had been over an hour ago and the fight had either moved farther away or ended abruptly. Liam rather hoped it had been the second and that Break was busy detaining Baskerville until the rest of the group could catch up with him, because while there were several alternatives to that, many of those were not pleasant ones.

So he was hoping, with his last little pinch of hope, that Baskerville was in custody and Break was too busy making sure the others had her secured to come back for him. Because he _was_ coming back for him. He had said he would and so he would. All Liam had to do was hang on until he did and ignore how very cold it was.

Before Break had left he had put out the light on his wand and the darkness was near absolute, the moon not being strong enough to penetrate through the leaves in any substantial way. Still, he would rather stare into the night and watch the darkness throw up illusions of monsters than let himself be such a target.

He had stopped shivering sometime ago, which somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered was no good thing, but at the moment he couldn't make himself really care all that much. It was hard to force a thought past the thick mist his mind seemed to be seeped in, there was a spell he could use, one that could warm him, but he couldn't find the words. They were just under the haze, too far to reach.

What was he doing? Why was he sitting here? That's right, he had been waiting. There had been a promise… a promise that… that…

With an effort of will he forced his drooping eyelids back open. They didn't want to stay that way, it would be so easy to close his eyes, just for a moment, it would feel so…

But no, there had been a promise.

_"If I leave, you have to swear that you won't… that you'll still be… that you won't die before I get back."_

"Cross my heart and hope to die." he whispered, a reminder to himself. "No dying. Cross my heart and hope to die. Cross my heart and hope to die. Cross my heart and hope to… to… die. I won't… die… until…" the catch in his throat was the only warning he had before he was coughing blood onto Break's cloak. "…until he comes back," he finished, once the coughing fit passed. "Cross… my… hea… rt… and… ho… pe …to…"

He must have drifted off then, because the next thing he knew there were sounds of combat in the distance, the familiar bangs and cracks and shouts of a wizard's duel. They were coming closer, he reached out with numb, shaking fingers to take up his wand even though he couldn't see more than the occasional shower of of sparks and burst of illumination, duels moved fast, they might be on him in moments.

There was a brief blast of light, not far to the left, and something, he couldn't see still, it was too dark, fell nearby. After several years of serving as an Auror Liam knew the sound of a body hitting the ground.

There were footsteps, someone coming up behind him, but the body who had fallen did not move. There was someone else there.

"Xer…c?" he whispered. "Is… tha…t…"

A wand lit up behind him and he squinted, trying to see the body nearby more clearly. It was too far away; leaning forward only gained him a slash of pain down the wound on his chest and triggered another fit of coughing. When he finally stopped coughing he carefully rolled onto his side, then, even more slowly, because even bit of his body felt heavy, he pushed himself up and to his knees.

"Xer…c?" he asked again, frowning at the body. Why was Break not making sure Baskerville was restrained? She had recovered with alarming speed when he had stunned her before, she would no doubt do so again.

"Can't see, can you?" said a voice behind him. "I can fix that. Reparo!"

His glasses, whole, unbroken, were placed on his nose from the side and the world came back into starling focus. The body in front of him was Xerxes Break. Who wasn't moving. Who had a bloody wound on the side of his head. Who didn't appear to be breathing.

If Break was in front of him then who was… slowly he turned his head to look behind him.

"Hello, little Auror." Charlotte Baskerville said. "And here I thought you'd managed to scamper away. Friend of yours?" she nodded at Break.

"Wh-" he cleared his throat, "What did you… do… to him?"

"Oh, not much, not yet at least. Your friend was quite the fighter, unlike you; we had quite the little battle. Unfortunately, he was good, but not as good as me."

'Was'? She had said, 'was'? Liam tore his eyes from Baskerville's cruel smile and reached out, feeling for the pulse in Break's neck with fingers that didn't just shake from blood loss and cold, but fear too.

To his great relief a pulse beat strongly under his fingers, and when he held them over Break's mouth he felt the heat from the other man's breath. Unconscious but alive. Good.

He had been stupid. He had believed that because Break had come to his rescue that everything would be fine, that Break would fix this disaster. After all, hadn't Break been the one who saved him when that Death Eater had cut him to pieces last year?

It was what they did for each other, Break had saved him last year, he had saved Break two months before that. They had an understanding. But Break had always been the better Auror of the two of them and Liam had never begrudged him that.

So when Break had arrived he had been foolish enough to assume that that would be the end of the nightmare, that Break would be able to do what he had failed to. That Break would save him all over again. But now… now there was only him.

That would have to do.

"It was… my turn to do the… saving… anyway," he murmured. The words were coming faster to his tongue now then they had before, his mind wasn't as clouded as it had been when he lay by the tree, that was adrenaline doing it's clever work, making him forget he was hurt and cold and exhausted.

"Now, what was that?" Baskerville knelt beside him. "Not babbling already, are you? It would be a shame, that's supposed to come after the screaming, the babbling is. Not before I've even had any of my fun."

He took a deep breath and then, when he felt slightly steadier, turned to Baskerville. "There's almost twenty Aurors in this forest. They'll come running at the first scream. You might be very, very good, but even you can't fight off twenty Aurors at once."

"A good point. Muffliato!" she said the silencing spell with triumph, waving her wand to enclose it around them. "That will keep this as long as I like it."

Mutely Liam pointed his wand straight up and shot a flare from its tip, which exploded directly above them. It was red, the agreed on distress signal, which would bring every single Auror that saw it running for their location as fast they could.

"You little bastard!" Baskerville backhanded him with her wandhand, connecting with the deep gash she had put on his cheek not very long ago and knocking him over, into Break. "Now there'll never be enough time. I ought to -and I will! Crucio!"

For a moment his entire body tensed, waiting for the pain he knew was coming. But instead it was Break, under him who stirred, his face contorted in pain. A thin hiss of pain escaped his clenched teeth. She hadn't aimed for him at all; she had gone for Break, who was completely defenseless. Liam's eyes narrowed.

She leveled her wand straight at him, "Crucio!"

"Protego!" he snapped and the curse bounced off his shield and back toward Baskerville. She started to duck too late and the curse caught her in the chest. With a scream she fell, writhing in pain in the leaves.

How he got to his feet Liam could not have said later, it must have been the adrenaline, but he got there. Careful not to upset the precarious hold he had on balance he reached down picked up Break's wand, shoving it into a pocket of his robe. Then he grabbed Break under the arms, pulling him up. Clumsy deadweight, Break fell back into him and the world went white for a moment as a burst of pain went through the wound on his chest. Liam staggered, but somehow kept from falling and, more surprisingly kept from dropping Break.

Baskerville was still whimpering on the ground but Liam knew better than to expect her to stay there long. "Stupefy," he snapped, and Baskerville went limp as soon as the spell hit her. It wouldn't take long for her to recover from that, but it should give him time to do what he had to.

The others must have been either too far away to see his distress signal or weren't sure enough of the placing to Apparate there and they were taking too long to get there by foot. He couldn't wait for them any longer; he needed to get Break to somewhere where he would be out of danger and somewhere that he could actually defend from. Even if it looked unlikely he was going to make it out of this alive he needed to make sure Break did, Break was the better Auror, he had to survive to hunt the Death Eaters of the future.

With a heave he pulled Break, plain deadweight, as far as he could and felt the wound on his chest burn all down its length. Again he yanked Break, gaining a few more feet, though Break's boot-heels were scoring two lines in the earth, leaving a clear track of their direction. It was not easy going; somehow, even though he was a good two inches taller than Break, the other man seemed to be almost too heavy to drag.

Gritting his teeth, ignoring the pain, ignoring the exhaustion that threatened to drop him where he stood, he dragged his unconscious friend across the forest, tiny bit by tiny bit, as far from the Death Eater as he could. He wasn't sure how far he had managed to get, it was hard to tell in the night woods, but he could no longer see Baskerville's body.

It wouldn't be much longer until she woke, he knew. They were leaving a clear trail for her to follow but that couldn't be avoided, he didn't think if he let go of Break he would be able to haul him back up again.

The night seemed close in around the two of them, trees loomed out of the darkness, only to quickly vanish again once they had been past. There was no sound but the harsh rasping of his breath, the rustle of leaves, and the sound of a body being dragged, if there were any animals in this area they had long sensed the magic in the air and taken cover. At least that meant he didn't have to worry about whatever nighttime predators were native to this area. That would be-

He stumbled, completely over his own feet and lost his hold on Break, sending the other man crashing into the forest floor. On impact Break groaned, but didn't wake.

Liam stared down at the unconscious man and laughed, mostly at the shear ridiculousness of all of it. Running from a Death Eater like a rat, thinking he could save _anyone_ when he clearly couldn't even save himself, being stupid and cowardly enough to not cast Avada Kedavra on Baskerville when she was down. He laughed at all of it with what started as a controlled laugh but rapidly spiraled up into hysterical as he swayed, so damn exhausted he couldn't even take another step. He was about ten seconds away from dropping where he stood, even adrenaline couldn't make up for the amount of blood he'd lost on this nightmare run through the forest.

The cry of triumph was almost synonymous with the body hitting him. It came completely by surprise, he hadn't even heard anyone approaching. He fell without even seeing what it was that hit him, and he didn't remember anything after the sudden impact of the ground.

What felt like a moment later, but he knew wasn't, Baskerville was smiling over him, removing her wand from his cheek. "Yes, that did do the trick." If course a Death Eater would know a reviving spell, he thought grimly, wouldn't do to have your victim unconscious while you were torturing them. "You really don't learn very well, Mouse Auror. It doesn't much matter if you run. I'll still catch you. And I'll take that," she removed his wand from his hand. "I can't exactly go underestimating you twice, now can I?"

"The-" he had to clear his throat, it felt thick with fear. "The other Aurors… they'll be here soon."

Baskerville gave a short laugh. "Stupid little Auror, they'll go for where you sent up that flare, which is a good distance away, certainly far enough that it will take some time for them to find you here. Muffliato." Again she drew the silencing spell around them. "After all the trouble you've caused me I'm going to _enjoy_ this."

She flicked her wand and flames burst out on the edge of Break's robes. With the strength born of panic Liam leapt forward to slap at the flames with his hands, smothering the burning cloth.

Watching with amusement on her face Baskerville flicked her wand again and another flicker of flame made Liam slam his hands down over the tiny fire, scorching his hands and not even noticing. A third flick and it was his own robes that were burning, and he had to roll to put them out. She was laughing again, amused at his panic as she lit another fire on his robes, this time on his sleeve.

He quickly smothered it, but not before it burned his arm, a searing pain that made him want to curl around the arm and just give up. And he might have, had Baskerville not lit yet another fire on his robes. But this time, as he beat the flames out he felt something in his charred pocket.

That was right; his wand was not the only one he was carrying.

A sudden, mad, insane plan hit him as painful hope welled in his chest, this was nothing Baskerville would expect, nothing that he would have _ever_ considered doing before. Then again, it just might work. If he got insanely lucky.

He closed his hand around Break's wand and, as he forced himself to his feet with what he knew was his last ounce of energy, he drew the wand, pointing it at Baskerville.

"No!" she lunged for him, hand already reaching out to snatch the wand from him.

But he did what she could have never predicted, not trying to cast a spell on her mid-leap but plunging the wand directly into her eye. Quickly, before she had time to really register what he's just done he whispered the Permanent Sticking charm.

Then she screamed in pain, jerking back from him so forcefully that the wand broke, leaving a half in his hand and half grotesquely stuck in her eye. Magic of some kind she might have expected, but this… this even Baskerville would never have thought of.

Clawing at the broken wand Baskerville attempted to pull it from her eye, but the charm kept it stuck fast, no matter how hard she pulled she couldn't remove it. The eye socket was bleeding, dripping down her cheek to join whatever clear fluid her eye was weeping as she swore at him, now desperately trying to wrench the wand out.

Liam dropped the now useless wand, staggering away from her, his own hands shaking. It hadn't worked. That was supposed to kill her and it _hadn't_. It had been his last chance and-

"You little _bastard_!" Baskerville turned and lunged at him again, both of her hands fastening around his throat. "How dare you!"

The terrible energy that had made him able to drag Break across the forest and slam a wand into the Death Eater's eye was gone, spent with the last of his plan. In the end he hadn't been strong enough and it was not only going to get him killed but Break too.

He tried to pry Baskerville's hands from his throat but even wounded she was stronger than him, breathing heavily she tightened her grip, pure hate gleaming from her remaining eye. In Liam's fading vision Charlotte Baskerville was no longer beautiful, not with rage twisting her face and one eye put out.

And had it been only his life on the line he might have given up, let himself die there and then, accepted that this was finally the end; but if he died, he was letting Break die too. And that was not acceptable.

With the last of his conscious mind narrowing down to one smaller and smaller window Liam wasted the last of his air on a defiant scream as he drew back his hand and rammed his palm into the end of the broken wand, sending it deeper, though the eye cavity and into the recesses beyond. He didn't stop pushing until his hand was flat against her eye socket, the wand now forced into her brain.

Baskerville froze for one long moment and Liam thought that this too had failed… then she dropped. When she hit the ground she lay with the the preternatural stillness of the dead but there was little doubt she had been dead before she even it touched earth.

Liam didn't move for several seconds, starring at the body, waiting for it to move. When it didn't he tried to take a deep, relieved breath but found himself overcome with coughing as his throat objected the recent pressure. Reaching out he found a tree trunk to lean on while he coughed blood into the leaves. Finally he could breathe clearly and he straightened up. The world tried to go black on him but he forced it away, shaking his head to clear it. They weren't safe yet.

"Lumos," he croaked, and staggered toward where his wand had lit up. He didn't trust himself to reach down for it without passing out so he tired, "Accio wand." in hopes that it might actually work.

The wand snapped to his open hand just as he had hoped it would and the shear relief he felt was almost as painful as his ragged throat.

Staggering over the where he had left Break he more fell than knelt, reaching to check the man's pulse. It was not as strong as before but it was still there.

He wanted to badly to just lay down next to his friend and rest, only for a moment. But, no. There had been a promise.

"Cross… my… heart and…" he swallowed heavily, "Does it… still… count… as broken…if I… do it now… Xerc?"

Probably not. Even Break would have to understand if he couldn't…

But there was was one last thing he had to do.

Slowly, because he was _so_ tired even this was a great effort, he pointed his wand into the air and shot a red flare from it's tip. The other Aurors would come and Break would be safe. And he… he would be…

He…

_"And… hope… to… die…"_

Would have lied.

"Sorry… Xerc… I couldn't…"

* * *

_End of Part 2_


	3. Stick a Needle in Your Eye

**And Hope to Die**

Attack of the evil exposition! Luckily I disliked the original version on this chapter so much, because it was written from Gil's point of view and mostly consisted of exposition, I took it off and will probably post it as a side oneshot so a lot of the exposition got cut out. Hope you enjoy this last chapter and please drop me a review to let me know what you think.

* * *

_Stick a needle in your eye_

* * *

The world slowly came back into focus after Liam opened his eyes to the white room. As soon as he realized he didn't know where he was he instinctively reached out for his wand, fingers searching for the pocket sewn in his robes only to find it, and his usual robes, missing. The robes he was wearing were completely unknown and slightly too big. He couldn't see very well, someone had taken his glasses, and the moment before he was going to reflexively cast a spell a hand that he knew touched his shoulder.

"You're at St. Mungo's." said a voice he also knew. "And, don't hex me."

Liam let the words of the spell that had leapt to the forefront of his mind fade and squinted at the flesh colored blur that might have been face shaped. "…Xer…xes?" he asked and was surprised when his voice rasped like a rusty gate.

"That's right. Are you really awake this time?"

He tried to get the blur to focus, without much success. "Is… that you?"

"Oh, right. You can't see. Here." the flesh colored blob moved away and returned to put his glasses on his nose. "Better?"

Frowning at the room Liam ignored the question in favor of figuring out where exactly he was. After scanning the small, rather white, room he concluded that, yes, this looked rather like a hospital, and yes, it was probably St. Mungo's. "Is that… actually you, Xerc?"

"Always so suspicious," Break sighed. "Not that it isn't justified; you steal candy from my desk with a spell. And you do it because you have a rather large sweet tooth you like to keep secret. Satisfied?"

"Oh…" Liam said slowly, filing that Break was really Break in his growing list of things he knew about the new situation. "How did I get here?"

Break actually chuckled at that, "You must actually be awake this time to ask a question like that. How do you think you got here?"

"Don't answer a question with a question," Liam said grumpily, the paused. "'This time'?" he repeated. "How long have I been out?"

At that Break avoided his gaze. "I'm not supposed to tell you. Not right after you wake up. Healer's orders."

"Xerxes," Liam glared at him, _"How long?"_

"Not as long as you're thinking." Break hurriedly said. "Only a week."

"A week?" the sheer amount of time past, and surely paperwork accumulated, made Liam wince, which made him remember the wound across his chest. When he lifted a hand to press it to where he remembered the wound being there was no sting of pain under his hand.

"They had to fill you pretty full of magic to make that cut seal," Break explained. "You know wounds from spells are harder to heal. They said that's why you slept so long, all that magic in your system."

"A week…" Liam shook his head. "That's even longer than that time in Scotland."

"You stepped on the trigger for that stun hex, it was different. And there was that castle that time." Both of them winced at the shared memory.

They had broken into the Scottish castle to save Gil, it had been the other Auror's first solo mission and he'd been taken hostage by the dark witch he was supposed to be questioning. It turned out to be an interesting night all around, the witch had booby-trapped the whole castle so they'd been faced with several unpleasant surprises while breaking in. That stun hex had put Liam out for the better part of two days while Break holed up in an obscure part of the castle with him and waited for his partner to wake up; all the time hoping that the witch didn't spot his hiding place. They had rescued Gil after that, but it was far cry from an easy mission.

"At least this time you didn't have to hide in a castle with a stunned idiot." Liam said.

"No, this time," Break glanced down, something like guilt passing over his face. "This time you had to haul my idiot body through the forest while you bleed more than a person should ever bleed."

"It was my turn to do the rescuing." Liam pointed out.

"It doesn't work like that." Break snapped. "We looked out for each other, we watched each other's back, but that was before…" he sighed and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his robes. "I'm not supposed to be upsetting you. I've done just about as lovely a job at that as I did saving you from Baskerville. I suppose you were right, when we had that argument, I am a danger to everyone who knows me. Look what I let Baskerville do to you."

"What happened to her?" Liam asked, seizing on the chance to change the subject from the tatters of their former partnership to anything else. "Is she really… did I actually…"

"You did. She's dead." there wasn't a trace of regret in Break's voice. "I'm not particularly upset, just a bit, well… surprised. That wasn't how I thought I would be loosing my seventh wand."

"I would have used mine if she hadn't taken it, if that's any comfort to you. I don't think… that's not something I would do again if I had the choice." He had never been particularly fond of violence, despite being an Auror. If there had been another choice… but there hadn't been.

He glanced away from Break, who was watching him with the over-intent gaze of someone who watches one who might fall over faint at any moment, and noticed the flowers on the bedside table for the first time. They were arranged in a vase, with a card lying next to them. "Who are those from?" he asked Break.

That Break would have been there to see them delivered, and there for most of the time he was unconscious, Liam took for granted. No partner, even a partner that had a rather nasty falling out with his teammate like Break had with him, would let said teammate lie defenseless where someone who wanted him dead (an Auror had a lot of enemies) could attack.

Break stalled answering, rustling around in his pockets, finding a candy, making a process of unwrapping it and popping it in his mouth.

"Who are those from?" Liam repeated, suspicious at Break's reluctance to talk. He reached for the card and frowned, not at the 'Get well soon!' but the signature. "Sharon was here?"

"Two days ago," Break admitted reluctantly.

"Why was she here?"

"To visit you of course."

"And you?"

"… well, I was here, after all." In the uncomfortable silence Break cracked the candy between his teeth. "I know you don't like that we're still together." he said finally, and the way he said it sounded almost like a peace offering to Liam.

"She's too young for you." Liam said. It was what he had said from the beginning, ever since his childhood friend and then-time partner had started a discrete relationship. "And if you're not careful you'll ruin her career." The words were hollow, only an echo of the ones he had said with much more anger during many an argument.

"I know." said Break, his words too were hollow. If they hadn't spent those weeks working together on the Baskerville case they might have had another version of the same argument they had had several times before but that and the dark night in the woods had changed things.

"… you're an idiot, Break."

"I already said I was. In that part before where I was being annoyed at myself at getting taken out by Baskerville."

"That was stupid."

"I _know_." Break chewed noisily on the remains on his candy. "You needed me to pull you out there alive and I got myself knocked out."

"I don't always need you to rescue me, you know. I have managed pretty well myself."

"You did. It's going to be another one of those office legends, like that one with Mad-Eye and the kitchen knife, Auror drags his unconscious teammate half a mile with a wound he shouldn't even have been able to walk with. And lives to blush excessively every time he hears the story."

"It was really half a mile?"

"That's what Gil and Sharon tell me. And since they had to run it to get to us, I believe them. It certainly makes the head to toes bruises much more reasonable."

"How are you, by the way?" Liam asked. "I should have asked earlier. There must have been burns… and a concussion from the head wound?"

"Not a very bad one." said Break. "Sharon had me back up and feeling decently that night."

"She'll make a good healer one day."

"I know. And I don't plan on ruining her apprenticeship, really."

"Yes, but…" Liam rolled his eyes. "I don't feel much like having this argument again. You know if you hurt her I'm going to do worse to you than steal the candy out of your desk."

"Of course." Break said. "I expected that." But as he glanced at him something, an expression he quickly tried to hide, crossed his face.

Liam frowned. "There's something else, isn't there?"

"No, nothing." Break said so fast Liam immediately held out both hands to inspect them.

All ten fingers were there, his arms also seemed intact, he did a quick mental tally of his body for anything that appeared to be in pain or obviously missing. And came up blank. He was pretty well healed for what he had gone through. Or so it seemed, unless Break wasn't telling him something important. "What is it?" he asked cautiously.

"You do know the healers gave me very strict orders about upsetting you if you woke up."

"Which you ignored before and will now too."

Break snorted. "You're persistent."

"Which is why you're going to tell me." Liam said. "What is it?"

"Remember that cut on your face, the deep one?"

"…yes."

"You'll notice it's still there."

Liam reached up to cautiously touch his cheek and was surprised to find the slash only slightly healed. "Odd, considering all that magic you said they pumped through me."

"It'll be there for a while. When they were healing you the healers focused all the other wounds and left that one until last. You've earned yourself a lovely facial scar."

Feeling the length of the cut Liam sighed. "Is that all? You had me thinking worse."

"Well," Break shrugged, "It's a scar. A nasty one."

"I'm an Auror. I'll have plenty of scars in a few years. It comes with job." Liam said.

"I thought I'd break it to you gently all the same. The healers were adamant about the possibility of you reacting very badly. I had quite the lecture."

"They don't know Aurors."

"That is exactly what I thought too."

"How did they react to you being here?" he asked

"They intensely disliked my camp-out. But I was stubborn and it wasn't as if anyone could throw me out." Break grinned. "There are some definite perks to being messily one eyed and thus looking rather dangerous. No one wants to figure out if I really am capable of keeping them from throwing me out."

"You would think with the amount of Aurors that end up here that the staff would be a little more used to their teammates doing guard duty."

"But they they would be unable to ponder the strange doings of the mysterious and possibly insane dark wizard catchers." Break's smile changed from the slightly wicked to something fond, "You know, you're possibly the only person I know who would take being in a coma for a week like it was nothing but an irritation."

"It is. There must be no free space left on my desk anymore for paperwo…" he was interrupted by a yawn.

"The paperwork will keep." Break said, with great lack of concern.

"But my desk won't if it collapses under the-" he was again interrupted by a yawn, bigger than the last, and continued when it passed. "The weight of all-" for a third time he yawned.

With a laugh Break reached out take the glasses off his face.

"What are you-" he yawned a fourth time, unable to finish his sentence.

"Go back to sleep again." the blur that was Break said. "I'll go out and tell the healers you were awake a neglect to mention how long."

"How wicked of you…" he yawned yet again, feeling his eyelids feel inconveniently heavy. "And… what do mean… 'again'?"

The blob that was Break had retreated toward the door but at his words he paused, probably turning back. "You woke a few other times but… well, you weren't really awake, if you know what I mean."

"That's why you… asked me if I was… 'really awake' this… time."

"It is. And… I'm sorry about the horrible rescue."

"Doesn't… matter," Liam said sleepily. "Made it out… with both… of us… alright… anyway."

"That we did." said Break, heading again toward the door. Just at it he paused again. "Thank you for not dying." he murmured.

"Well… I did… promise… didn't… I…"

"You did. Very solemnly."

"Yes…_ Cross my…heart…and hope to…die…"_

"Though, of course, you didn't. Which I'm more grateful for than you'll ever know. Now go to sleep."

Break left and Liam stopped fighting the urge to close his eyes. Just before sleep he could have sworn he heard the murmur of Break speaking to the healers. And no doubt editing the tale quite thoroughly.

Which meant just about everything had returned about as close to normal as it usually was. Quite a relief.

* * *

_Cross my heart_

_And hope to die_

_Stick a needle in my eye._

_The End_


End file.
